Record of Breaking into Shaolin

Chu Tianshu had originally wanted to use ten gold bars to test whether he could take things from this world back with him, and how much he could take.

Now it seemed the token's mechanism was quite thorough in that regard: it had made clear that Fortune had to be deducted to cover them.

However, judging by how much the Fortune Bar had risen, the so-called Fortune gains counted only what happened in the present.

For example, suppose he saved a child today, and that child grew up to be an earth-shaking figure.

But right now, the child was only a child, so the Fortune Bar would not change much.

The escort of Cai Shanjun had brought such a great reward largely because, even though he had yet to accomplish the great task of standing against the traitors to the nation, Cai Shanjun was already a highly influential figure.

Once my Fortune is full, I have to return within three days. Only things whose effects have been realized within those three days can count as excess Fortune.

So even if I write down every prescription now, if those rare medicinal ingredients haven't all been gathered within three days, the effects won't count as having truly been realized.

As these thoughts ran through Chu Tianshu's mind, he picked up the fountain pen he had borrowed from Commander Xie.

Even if he received no Fortune in return, he still had to write down the prescriptions.

And he had more to write.

For example, penicillin's uses, contraindications, and method of production.

Nothing like it had yet been heard of in this world.

If the timeline of his home world was anything to go by, it would be more than a decade before anyone in this world began publishing papers on it, and several more years before it attracted attention.

Penicillin, sometimes also called penicillin, could, without exaggeration, be said to save countless lives if its production process was mastered ahead of time, before the imminent outbreak of a turbulent age.

Even crudely produced penicillin was called a transmigrator's divine tool on the internet back home.

But crude production was not actually all that effective: it produced many impurities, and its stability was poor.

Some things in ancient Chinese medicine could also have similar effects.

For example, monks at Tianning Temple in Changzhou during the Ming Dynasty had discovered that aged mustard-green brine, fermented with proper attention to timing and procedure, had a remarkable effect on illness.

Although it relied entirely on natural fermentation, it could just about be considered a primitive antibiotic.

To make penicillin truly powerful, far surpassing those solutions with their complex ingredients,

large-scale screening of strains and purification to exacting standards were still necessary.

Although Chu Tianshu could write down all the key points, ordinary wealthy townsfolk, and even ordinary warlords, lacked the means to accomplish it.

Only after Cai Shanjun regained power would someone in his position be able to try to bring together the necessary conditions and produce it on a large scale.

After he had written for a while, someone knocked at the door and brought him that evening's meal.

A large bowl of red rice, two large bowls of pork stewed with potatoes, and a clay pot of whole chicken soup with whip bamboo shoots.

Chu Tianshu caught the aroma and, full of anticipation, picked up his chopsticks and went "nom," taking a big bite of meat first.

Then his chewing paused for a moment.

The potatoes and pork had been stewed until very tender, but there was a slight gamey smell, probably because there were not enough spices.

He ate it quickly with the rice. As long as he did not chew too carefully, it tasted quite good.

The chicken had not been stewed long enough, and the broth was not rich enough yet.

But that was just right. Since it had not been cooked for long, the chicken had not turned dry or mushy, and it was chewy and full of fresh flavor.

Chu Tianshu slowed down a little and savored the chicken.

"Ah, Meng Shuangjiang even said he'd treat me to all the good food in town. I wonder how much there is there that I haven't tried."

Chu Tianshu was even less certain whether he would have another chance to return to that town.

Never mind. Once he got home, he would go out for a good meal and reward himself.

He missed those strong seasonings a little.

After eating, he picked up his pen and wrote for a while longer before going to sleep.

The next morning, he went to find Cai Shanjun and brought him everything he had written.

Cai Shanjun was drinking tea in the regiment headquarters courtyard. When he saw him, he invited him to sit and took the prescriptions for a look.

"Hm?"

Cai Shanjun flipped to the later pages, looking a little surprised. "You know Western medicine too?"

The several large sheets at the back were not only covered in densely packed writing; they also had diagrams of equipment and explanations.

Judging by the appearance of the vessels, they were clearly in the style of Western chemical equipment.

But the requirements seemed even stricter and more precise than those for the Western equipment Cai Shanjun had seen.

"I know a little, but many brilliant people were involved in perfecting the process for making this medicine."

Chu Tianshu knew that, until penicillin could be mass-produced for practical use, it would be hard for people to realize how valuable it was, so he grew very serious and stressed his words.

"Put it this way: this medicine works so quickly and has such a wide range of uses that, in some respects, it's no worse than a talisman drawn by a sorcerer skilled in medicine!"

Cai Shanjun's expression shifted.

A single talisman from a sorcerer specializing in medicine could treat an enormous number of things.

Take a talisman for "relieving the suffering of blade and spear."

If you were cut by a blade, he would put that talisman on you. If you were shot, he would put that talisman on you. If you were struck by a stone, he would still put that talisman on you...

Put it on, and the wound would not fester. Put it on, and the swelling would go down. Put it on, and the bleeding would stop.

But sorcerers were rare to begin with, and those who practiced medicine were rarer still, as scarce as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

Spells that harmed people had always spread more widely than spells that saved them, and more people wanted to learn them.

If this medicine really had an effect similar to a talisman's, and could also be mass-produced...

"Tianshu."

Cai Shanjun said sincerely, "When I return to Kunming, how would you like to teach at the Military Academy? We can discuss your compensation, and I'll have people who studied medicine overseas recruited as soon as possible."

"I only ask that you guide them in making this medicine!"

Chu Tianshu drank two cups of tea, then picked up the teapot again. "I'm afraid I can't. My master's sect has strict rules, and I have to go home in the next couple of days."

"You're leaving?"

Shopkeeper Ma had also come over, carrying a small wine jar he had gotten from somewhere, his face full of surprise.

"Why so suddenly? We haven't even reached Kunming yet!"

Chu Tianshu smiled. "That's a secret of my master's sect, so it's hard to explain. Sorry."

Shopkeeper Ma set the wine jar on the table and opened his mouth.

"...Well, it's all right. At your age, you really should get out and make your way in the world more."

Shopkeeper Ma paused, then brought up another matter. "But if you're in such a hurry to leave, what about the secret manuals the grand commander promised you?"

Chu Tianshu said helplessly, "If there really isn't enough time, there's nothing to be done."

But Cai Shanjun said, "There's enough time."

"As long as you aren't leaving today, there's enough time. When I sent a telegram yesterday, I already mentioned it to an old friend of mine."

Cai Shanjun looked beyond the courtyard. "Given his temperament, he'll certainly be hurrying here by day and night."

"He should arrive by noon today at the latest."

Chu Tianshu glanced outside the courtyard a couple of times and was about to say something else when he suddenly turned to look outside again.

Shopkeeper Ma looked in the same direction.

Even Zhong Jinqiu strode out of the room and watched, looking a little puzzled.

They had all sensed an unusual presence rapidly approaching.

Presence was not really an accurate word for it.

They could not describe what it was, only that they felt certain something was approaching.

Or was it a whole group?

The guards' startled cries came from outside the gate.

Tens of thousands of white butterflies danced through the air, fluttering toward them.

They were certainly not grayish-white moths, but snow-white butterflies, the patterns on their phoenix wings like openwork gauze screens.

Cai Shanjun stood up and called out with a hearty laugh, "Principal!"

Amid the fluttering butterflies, a man had already entered the regiment headquarters.

He had thick, short hair and white brows and beard. His skin looked as if it had often been exposed to the blazing sun, and the hem of his long robe was tucked into his waistband.

He was Li Genyuan, the first principal of the Yi Province Military Academy, master of Phoenix Wing Garden, and "White-Haired Laozi."

"My General Cai, you've finally found it in you to leave a fine place like the capital and come back?"

Li Genyuan teased him, but his hand had already closed around Cai Shanjun's wrist.

Both Chu Tianshu and Shopkeeper Ma could feel a current of Mind Power rippling out from Li Genyuan like a mountain stream.

It was neither fierce nor surging, but like a mountain brook, it flowed without end.

Great numbers of butterflies flew up and landed on Cai Shanjun's head, at the corners of his brows, and on his shoulders.

They landed on the palm and wrist he raised with a smile, and on the tops of his shoes.

No snow fell that day, but the butterflies settled on him until his hair looked white.

Chu Tianshu sensed with surprise that the poison in Cai Shanjun's body was being diluted by Li Genyuan, and that the butterflies were drawing out a great deal of it.

That being the case, several of the rarest medicinal ingredients in those prescriptions might not be needed after all.

The effects of the other medicines alone should be enough to cure the poison remaining in Cai Shanjun's body.

"You two must be Brother Ma and Brother Zhong."

Li Genyuan left Cai Shanjun among the butterflies and walked over.

"Since I'm a few years older, I'll take the liberty of calling you both brothers."

"And this must be Chu Tianshu, Doctor Chu."

Li Genyuan beamed. "I've heard all about what you've done. The Military Academy's two best secret manuals ought to be given to Doctor Chu to learn from as well; that would be putting them to their best use."

He held out two thread-bound books.

"Though these two are copies, they don't differ from the originals by a single word."

Chu Tianshu took them and saw that one was a book of sorcery titled Secret Incantations of Vertical and Horizontal.

The other, however, did not look like a book on fist techniques, but rather some sort of collection of notes and jottings.

"Record of Breaking into Shaolin."

Chu Tianshu opened that one first, and a long passage met his eyes.

"I had long heard of Shaolin's reputation and thought it worth a visit. I put on armor, took up a staff, and went up the mountain with a sword at my side.

After breaking the Eighteen Arhats Formation, I was met by the elder monks of the various halls. Out of consideration for their age, I removed my armor, cast aside my staff, and threw away my sword.

Within two hundred paces, I fought my way through Shaolin barehanded.

The ancestral home of Chan Buddhism did indeed possess exquisite fist techniques. Sadly, the monks lacked courage and resolve, and none among them was my match.

Afterward, I reflected on their fist techniques and recorded selections in this book. Should later generations of Shaolin lose their inheritance and fail to understand the essence of their fist principles,

let them consult this fist manual, as if they beheld an arhat or a vajra!"